Monday, March 1, 2010

HSPS Farm in Daily News

A pea grows in Brooklyn. And eggplant and kale, too. Students at the High School for Public Service in East Flatbush are building a 10,000-square-foot vegetable farm on the campus' front lawn.The school plans to sell its produce in the neighborhood, where fresh greens are hard to find and obesity rates are high.

"It's going to be the biggest farm in Flatbush," said Principal Ben Shuldiner, 32, who already has raised more than $14,000 for the farm with BK Farmyards, an urban farming collective that's designing and operating the farm.

"The idea is that kids will learn the skills and science behind a farm, and then bring fresh vegetables and fruit to the community."Shuldiner and his students will break ground on the farm in early April, planting tomatoes, eggplant, kale and more in a 200-square-foot greenhouse at the old Wingate High School campus on Kingston Ave.It's just the first phase of a multiyear plan for the high school, where more than 90% of the 390 students come from low-income families.